PKL 2017 | Manjeet Chillar’s solid defense hand Puneri Paltan their first loss of the season

Manjeet Chillar’s sublime defensive ability came to the fore as Jaipur Pink Panthers thrashed Puneri Paltan 30-28 to win their first match of the season. Although Pune applied the same strategy of defense, eventually the Pink Panthers emerged victorious at the Mankapur Indoor stadium in Nagpur.

Jaipur stay ahead with a three-point lead

Jaipur won the toss and chose the court which meant Puneri Paltan will raid first. Jaipur opened their account with Tushar Patil getting the bonus point in the first minute of the game. But the Pune team snatched the lead from them as Deepak Hooda and Rohit Kumar Chaudhary managed two raid points to give them a lead of 2-1. Pune’s defence came to the fore soon after as they picked two tackle points and their star player Sandeep Narwal pinned Manjeet Chillar to the mat to consolidate their lead at 5-3. However, Jaipur defenders showed great skills to script a come back into the game and three points to equal the score by 6-6, which included a raid point by Deepak Hooda. Pune team also remained successful in keeping Chillar on the bench for most parts of the first half that created a chance for the hosts and further, Sandeep Narwal stunned the opponent with a quick raid to help Pune take a 9-6 lead in the game. However, when Chillar came from the bench, he produced a toe touch on Girish Maruti Ernak to level the score at 9-9. In the dying stages of the game, Jasvir secured two points in a do-or-die raid to help Jaipur stay ahead with a three-point lead at 14-11.

Panthers secure their first win of the league

In the start of the second half, Jaipur easily inflicted the first all-out of the game by getting hold of Jasvir Singh and then they were awarded a technical point which helped them take an 18-11 lead in the match. Soon, Manjeet successfully got hold of his counterpart to become the first player in the PKL history to complete 200 tackle points and in the process, gave Jaipur a 21-14 lead. Then Tushar Patil and Rajesh Mondal earned points in their do-or-die raid that consolidated their lead at 23-15. While the Panthers were running away with the lead, Sandeep Narwal’s super raid came at a perfect time that helped Pune reduce the difference from eight points to five points as the scorecard read 23-18. Jaipur got two points as Chillar successfully dashed Hooda to complete a super tackle to maintain the seven-point lead. In the last couple of minutes, it was only time management for the Panthers as they finally secured their first win of the season by a margin of 30-28.

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